Cloth Diapering Tips-Stripping Your Diaps

Stripping your cloth diapers: Step 1

First wash your cloth diapers as you normally would. It is important to start with clean diapers. If your diapers are soiled when you begin the stripping process, you may set stains in the fabric. Simply run your cloth diapers through a normal cold wash cycle with a small amount of detergent, and rinse as usual.

Step 2

Run your cloth diapers through a hot wash with no detergent. Turn up your water heater if necessary to make sure that the water is really hot (but be sure to turn it back down afterward for safety). Note: check washing instructions for your particular cloth diapers. If you are using all-in-ones or pocket diapers with waterproof covers, too-hot water may damage them.

You may want to use just a drop or two of original blue liquid Dawn dish detergent to this wash to help cut some of the oils, but it's not always necessary. You can also add a bit of baking soda to absorb odors.

Step 3

Be sure to do an extra rinse at the end of your wash cycle. Add some white vinegar to this final rinse to remove all detergent residues from your cloth diapers. Don't worry, your cloth diapers won't come out of the wash smelling like vinegar. When the diapers dry, all the vinegar smell will disappear.

Step 4
Rinse, rinse, rinse. Run your cloth diapers through as many rinse cycles as necessary until no suds appear. This may take up to three or four rinse cycles, or even more if there is a lot of detergent residue in your cloth diapers. Hint: to prevent detergent from building up too much, use one-fourth to one-half of the detergent you would use on a regular load of laundry when washing your diapers normally. Your diapers will still get clean, but there won't be as much residue left behind.

Step 5

Sunlight is a natural germ-killer and stain-remover. If you have access to an outside drying line, hang your cloth diapers in the sun to dry. If this isn't an option, it is not absolutely necessary - the previous steps in the wash are more important.

It may be necessary to strip your cloth diapers as frequently as once a week, or as little as once a month. Strip your diapers as often as necessary to keep them absorbent and fresh.

courtesy of http://www.cafemom.com/group/clothdiapers